This happened last in earliy July (been bit busy)
from bbc.co.uk
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.
Broadband commitment Speaking to the BBC, Finland's communication minister Suvi Linden explained the thinking behind the legislation: "We considered the role of the internet in Finns everyday life. Internet services are no longer just for entertainment.
"Finland has worked hard to develop an information society and a couple of years ago we realised not everyone had access," she said.
It is believed up to 96% of the population are already online and that only about 4,000 homes still need connecting to comply with the law.
In the UK internet penetration stands at 73%.
The British government has agreed to provide everyone with a minimum 2Mbps broadband connection by 2012 but it is a commitment rather than a legally binding ruling.
"The UK has a universal service obligation which means virtually all communities will have broadband," said a spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Making broadband a legal right could have implications for countries that plan tough action on illegal file-sharing.
Both the UK and France have said they may cut off or limit the internet connections of people who persistently download music or films for free.
The Finnish government has adopted a more gentle approach.
"We will have a policy where operators will send letters to illegal file-sharers but we are not planning on cutting off access," said Ms Linden.
A poll conducted for the BBC World Service earlier this year found that almost four in five people around the world believed that access to the internet is a fundamental right.
---
The problem is that we have lots of land and not people. No, people living mostly in cities and in south but north there can be 60-70km to your closest neighbour or so on and so far when you've asked for internet [or broadband] they've just said "no can do" you need this and you need that (e.g our village had to have 5 houses to sign up before they promised to build ADSL here... and it's only 1 company we can use)
And now companies are removing the traditional landlines so it's silly. And with those distances in north and east, you cannot really say "go to the local library" because local library can be 100km away.
Of course there will be problem of "reasonable price" for internetaccess, but they point is when person A, who's living middle of nowhere asks company B that they want broadband, they have to deliver it and cannot say "no can do"
yay! [except I have cable nowadays and I can choose my operator, hooray!]
