Finns have a basic right to Internet

Finland on Thursday became the first country to pronounce access to a high-speed Internet connection a basic right. Life would be unthinkable without the Internet nowadays, writes the conservative daily Lidové noviny: "The citizens in the civilised West live to an ever greater degree in the virtual world. They are entitled to care and pensions when they're old, but the multi-generation family is collapsing - in contrast to the Confucian model where families stick together because there is no functioning social system. Normal social contacts, normal communication are increasingly difficult to maintain when the family is replaced by old people's homes, and e-mails and the Internet take the place of the local pub. Even ordinary gossiping is done on the Internet nowadays. And just as gossip is necessary so is the Internet."

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