Hi again, would like to share some more comments on the issue with you (see below)... Best, Wolf ____ Patrik Fältström wrote 16/10/2009 13:30: What is decided is on a public private partnership where there is a model for co-financing the internet access with 1/3 from each of the involved parties. So in reality it is a subsidy scheme. That said, press is talking about it as a "right", and of course journalists are already calling ISP friends in Finland asking what they will do with the 512kbps product that now will be "illegal". Which of course is not the case at all. Sigh... Sometimes it is not good to play the whisper game. Or, it is played too much. _____ Wolf Ludwig answered: Thanks for your important comments on this! I perhaps was a bit "over-impressed" by this announcement when Le Monde wrote: "(...) qu'à partir de juillet l'accès au haut débit serait garanti par la loi pour les cinq millions d'habitants du pays. Seuls deux mille foyers, situés dans les régions les plus désertes, sont exclus de ce plan, qui prévoit de porter le débit minimal à 100 mégaoctets d'ici à la fin 2015." Whether "1Mo/s access becomes a 'fundamental right' or whether this definition sort of updates the more classical "universal service" approach where in principle everyone should be entitled to such an access (though less clearly opposable)," as you said, to me it sounds like an important step into the right direction - compared to the state of art in other European countries - regarding "L'amendement 138 au "paquet Télécom", qui fait de l'accès à Internet un "droit fondamental" au titre de la liberté d'expression", and I wish other countries will follow the Finish example/ best practise with the same speed and tenacity soon. _____ Maxime Herrmann wrote 16/10/2009 12:40: I saw this article as well and I'm not sure it means that 1Mo/s access becomes a "fundamental right" or whether this definition sort of updates the more classical "universal service" approach where in principle everyone should be entitled to such an access (though less clearly opposable); such a principe actually already exists at an EU level (with a much lesser minimum bandwidth though). A quick look at the official press relase (unfortunately) leads to believe Finland's decision falls in the latter case... http://www.lvm.fi/web/en/pressreleases/view/920100 Kind regards, Maxime Herrmann Parliamentary assistant _____ Tommi Karttaavi wrote Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:52:

Dear all,

Here is link to the press release by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (in English): http://www.lvm.fi/web/en/pressreleases/view/920100

While this an encouraging development there are some ifs and buts concerning the speeds, to allow for delivery using mobile networks.

This is supposed to be an intermediary step in making a 100 Mb connection a legal right by the end of 2015.

Regards,

Tommi

On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:17:08 +0200, Wolf Ludwig wrote:

...

Dear all,

as Heidi from the At-Large Staff brought to our attention, Finland will be the first European country fixing Access to Internet as a basic right. According to an article published in Le Monde today stating that the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications has announced that beginning in July 2010 access to the Internet will be the equivalent of an opposable right.

Please see:

http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2009/10/15/la-finlande-fait-de-l-....

...

Best, Wolf

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