The Finland government just introduced this week law projects that will guarantee Internet access as a constitutional right.  This means a milestone on the tech history; an example that surely will be followed by other countries.

In 2004 Estonia pronounced a similar law but Finland’s government wants to go beyond the mere right to internet access: They also guarantee Broad Band Access to everyone living in the country. Indeed, starting July 2010 people are entitled to a 1 Mbps connection right (about the standard today), but this speed will be systematically increased as technology advances allows to do so.  Estimations calculate that by 2015 a 100 Mbps transmission rate will be the guaranteed right !!!.

100 Mbps are about 12 MB per second. In plain words, your PC, Laptop or any other device suitable to this type of communication could be transmitting or receiving the information contained 12 times in Romeo & Juliet every second.

The impact on daily life, social and commercial relationships and business is not hard to imagine. Just think of all the information (documents, transactions, audio, images, video, etc.) that can not be transmitted online today due to its size and you will have a pretty good idea of the first limitations that are to disappear; and, as usual with technological advances, the list will grow and grow.

Sources:

http://brightsideofnews.com/news/2009/10/14/today-it-is-a-good-day-for-making-a-history-well-done-finland!.aspx

http://europe.rights.apc.org/c_rpt/finland.html