Go Finland

According to a recent report by Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communication, Finland has now, starting in July 2010, made 1-megabit broadband Internet access a legal right, for every citizen.

And not only that, an earlier law specifies that by the end of 2015 every citizen will have a legal right to 100-megabit broadband Internet access.

France, while not taking the full step to make Internet access a legal right, has already proclaimed it a "basic human right," much like freedom or air.

E-Bandonded and E-Solated

It is clear that the Finish (and to some extent the French) government realizes that the Internet is not only here to stay, it has become a part of life--now considered indispensible by most of its users--and that it should be viewed as in the same category as food and water.

And as such, so the reasoning apparently goes, depriving citizens of Internet connection is violations of their human and legal rights on par with letting children starve.

Not far off the mark, especially in view of some interesting statistics out of the UK.

If the 1.6 million e-bandonded children in Britain were to log on tomorrow, they would increased their collective lifetime earnings by 10.80 Billion pounds. Also, those who are connected and use the Internet for such everyday chores like banking and shopping (and, of course email rather than snail mail) save an estimated 560 pounds each year compared to the 10 million e-solated UK citizens who still have no connection.

If every unemployed UK citizen were to learn to find their way onto and around the Internet, they would--each and every one of them--increase their lifetime earnings by 12,000 pounds.

And lastly, should all of Britain be connected and use the Internet as a matter of course, the UK Treasury would immediately see efficiency savings of 1.7 Billion Pounds.

Way of Life

It is easy to see that those born into a world with Internet cannot even conceive of one without it. Much like anyone who has driven a car all his life cannot conceive of a world without personal transportation.

And I cannot but agree. For me the Internet is the marketplace, it is my first (and almost always) only source of information, pricing, and purchasing. It is my ever growing library--I stun myself every now and them with how much information is actually available (it pays to learn all the ins and out of Google and there are a few). It has become my main source of entertainment as well, what with Netflix streaming good films online, and Hulu carrying all the shows you miss (I miss them all as I don't have a television).

Wikipedia tops it all off by being the best (and ever-growing) encyclopedia around.

While I could conceive of a world without Internet (I lived in one for many years) I would be hard pressed to manage without it.

So, kudos to Finland.