Ground Report

According to a TechCrunch, Finland has become the first country to institute laws that make broadband Internet a legal right.

In July of 2010, the Finnish government will guarantee one-megabit broadband access for the country’s five-million-plus population. The goal is to provide 100Mb coverage by 2015.

Tweeters from Helsinki, the capital of Finland, tweet in celebration not only of the new legislation, but also that their country is a Trending Topic:

1. LauriPietro (Helsinki, Finland) RT @TechCrunch Applause for Finland: first country to make broadband access a legal right http://bit.ly/3kzaj8 – Feeling proud to be finnish 14 Oct 2009 from web
2. saaraj (Helsinki, Finland) Greetings from Finland.. where everyone is entitled to have broadband access, it´s our legal right! 14 Oct 2009 from web
3. dandyleon (Helsinki, Finland) what? finland! do we all get free internets or what? 14 Oct 2009 from web
4. roknees (Helsinki, Finland) Wooo, Finland is a trending topic! =) 14 Oct 2009 from web

Meanwhile, Tweeters worldwide are lauding the Finnish government as innovative:

1. Kiki113 (Chicago, Ill.) #Finland free broadband to all = win. Doing that in the US would make cable/internet providers burst a capillary or two… 14 Oct 2009 from Brizzly
2. daresoftware (United Kingdom) #Finland makes broadband access a legal right – the sooner the UK govt does this the better. Not bloody likely this side of Doomsday. 14 Oct 2009 from web
3. toshmeister (Cumbernauld, U.K.) Not surprised in the slightest that Finland have passed this law as Scandinavia is light years ahead of us in their liberal thinking 14 Oct 2009 from web