While we’re having stone-age debates over whether our citizens should be allowed to die of treatable diseases because they’re poor or unlucky, Finland has gone ahead and made high-speed Internet access a legal right.

The LA Times reports that all Finns will have a legal right to 1-megabit web access come next July. The promise to raise this (pretty slow) requirement to 100-megabits (really fast) by the end of 2015.

Look for the U.S. to follow suit… never.

Anthony Hecht is The Stranger's Chief Technology Officer. He owns no monkeys.

33 replies on “Finland Makes High-Speed Internet a Right”

  4. My bad. But I would bet that their military plans all count on international intervention, and that their military budget is similarly scaled back.

  5. Finland was at +-85% of all households with access to broadband – in 2004. They highly value the benefits of their welfare state, have careful and generous immigration policies, spend huge amounts on making sure everyone’s got a terrific basic education, and see their country as very much a meritocracy.

    Striking contrast with us.

  6. Someone should tell all the cute blonde women over there that they now have no excuse for not posting naked photos of themselves on the net.

  9. I’m still waiting for the U.S. to switch to the fucking metric system of measurement, so, no… I don’t expect to see universal internet access, health care, or any other large, beneficial social programs anytime soon.

    Oh, and hell yeah with @6’s suggestion! Not only do they have no excuse, now it’s their goddamned responsibility as citizens of Finland to help pay for internet access by posting themselves naked and making out with each other.

  10. 100 megabits? we’ve had that at major universities for years.

    You actually believe them about it being hard to deliver here in the USA? Man, are you gullible. They already wired South Korea and Japan with it. At one-tenth the price.

  11. @10 – Who said I think it’s hard to deliver? “They” wired S. Korea and Japan. “WE” won’t wire the U.S. similarly anytime soon.

  14. SOSHALIZUM? WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA? YOU CANT MESS WITH THE MARKET! MARKET MARKET *spooge* MARKET!

    This country makes so goddamn little sense sometimes. Go, Finland.

  16. Matt @1 – don’t let reality stop you from making comments. Finland is able to provide these types of benefits because they’re a social democracy. It’s what they get for high tax rates. Plus they have very low birthrates and tightly controlled immigration so they don’t have to deal with the same demographic pressures as the US does. Is it fair to compare the US to Finland when it comes to these kinds of benefits? Not completely. But it’s not because they’re weak on military.

    The Finnish Defense Forces favor partnerships with Western institutions such as NATO, WEU and the EU, but are careful to avoid politics.[63] Finland’s defence budget equals about €2 billion or about 1.4–1.6 % of the GDP. In international comparisons Finnish defense expenditure is around the third highest in the EU.[64] Voluntary overseas service is popular and troops serve around the world in UN, NATO and EU peace-keeping missions. Residents claim around 80 % homeland defense willingness, one of the highest rates in Europe[65].link

  17. America is a huge country so it’s not likely or desirable that we even get Comcast to all corners of the nation. That doesn’t mean cities can’t take the initiative in making broadband access a right. Vote McGinn. Even in Seattle, any areas of Seattle with significant minority populations get crappy Broadstripe or crappy DSL, which are hardly better than AOL dialuo (and are even worse at some times).

  20. @ 18, all those services started to come about in a time before businesses realized how much money was in them. I’d say that the utilities may be required to have high-speed internet infrastructure in place so that everyone can have it, but you’ll have to pony up if you actually want the connection.

  21. Wait, I heard that this was about thwarting the proposed/pending EU mandate, that ISPs kick people off their service if they just receive a letter that the person in question *may* have violated DRM. Finland wants to stop this… i.e. everyone has a right to broadband, and an accusation of DRM violations won’t let us kick them off…. It’s a WAY cooler story.

  25. 1 Mbps is pretty slow and 100 Mbps is really fast? Isn’t most home Internet access about 512 Kbps (not including cable TV network’s shared-with-neighbors-on-same-segment scam) downstream and less up, and aren’t new wired networks 1000 Mpbs?

  26. Yes, and Finnish taxes for your typical middle class family run around 50%, although I’m sure that means little to the barista class on slog.

  28. Matt:
    Finland was a Russian possession in the 19th century – declared i/arendependence after the Russian Revolution – and were very, very cautious about being undefended after the Russians clawed away a chunk of Finland after the Winter War (during which the Allies helped Finland not one whit and Finland held Stalin’s armies at bay over a winter.) (They keep some of their damaged bridges and buildings to remind younger generations that freedom must be defended.) They do not rely on anyone to defend them as they think they might be waiting for a very long time. Based upon their past experience, Russia is the only threat to them …and even the USA doesn’t mess with countries with nuclear weapons. . . . (Notice how the one member of the Axis of Evil that actually had nuclear weapons wasn’t threatened or invade?) nOt all social democracies rely on the America to defend them …..

  30. # 27 The taxes they pay don’t seem to trouble my Finnish cousins……in fact, they told me they are happy to pay taxes as they receive great services …. blame that nasty socialist mindset! They just don’t know any better! Getting a free education (including grad school if they desire,) health care, paved roads, national parks, no homeless , et al…. why, if they lived in America they’d buy a gun and see the error of their ways! Actually, most of them already own a rifle…..and know how to use it. See the previous post on home defence.

  32. Finland, Finland, Finland
    The country where I want to be
    Pony trekking or camping
    Or just watching TV
    Finland, Finland, Finland
    It’s the country for me

    You’re so near to Russia
    So far from Japan
    Quite a long way from Cairo
    Lots of miles from Vietnam

    Finland, Finland, Finland
    The country where I want to be
    Eating breakfast or dinner
    Or snack lunch in the hall
    Finland, Finland, Finland
    Finland has it all

    You’re so sadly neglected
    And often ignored
    A poor second to Belgium
    When going abroad

    Finland, Finland, Finland
    The country where I quite want to be
    Your mountains so lofty
    Your treetops so tall
    Finland, Finland, Finland
    Finland has it all

    Finland, Finland, Finland
    The country where I quite want to be
    Your mountains so lofty
    Your treetops so tall
    Finland, Finland, Finland
    Finland has it all

    Finland has it all

  33. Theo @ 29 (if you’re reading this), I do know about the winter war in 1940; I also know that the Finns allied themselves with Germany once they turned on the USSR. Obviously it wasn’t a case of Nazism taking sway in Finland (as opposed to Norway, for example) but they did take help from a greater power when they could. It’s not unreasonable to believe that they would do so again, or that NATO would not be willing to intervene if Russia decided to invade again. (Kind of a long shot at this point in time.)

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