Finnish people now by law have right to access the ‘net

On the first of July, a new law has entered into effect in Finland that guarantees its citizens the right to access the internet with a connection of at least 1 Mbps. The Finnish minister of communications speaks to the BBC about the philosophy behind the new law: “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."

Still, the internet penetration rate is very high in Finland. The official estimate is that 96% of the population spend time online and that only 4000 houses need to be connected for the law to be complied with.

The Finnish government further promises that by 2015, everyone will be connected to the internet with at least a 100 Mbps connection.

With such a law, it is not likely that Finland plans on cutting habitual file-sharers off. Indeed, the minister said: "We will have a policy where operators will send letters to illegal file-sharers but we are not planning on cutting off access".