Comments on: Silly Finns

By: Jaim

Jaim — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:55:39 +0000

“When the average South Korean has better access to data than most wealthy Americans”

Internet access here in Korea has spoiled me rotten. Even the best connections in the States can’t compare to the speed and lack of breakdowns here.

Granted, it’s a smaller country but still.

By: jon

jon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:45:27 +0000

Americans without internet access are getting further and further behind in regard to educational opportunities, job opportunities, and even access to governmental information that we with access consider vital to our daily lives. When I work at a public library I have many people trying to access job application sites and other things for very necessary reasons. Leaving these people behind is wrong, letting them slip further behind is even more wrong.

And it’s even less silly to compare Finland’s making of broadband access a right to the United States when you realize that we’ve been paying taxes on our phones and cell phone lines for many years now. And what were these surcharges for? To establish internet access for all. This money has been collected for years and we have little to show for it. When the average South Korean has better access to data than most wealthy Americans, something is wrong. We’re being given service that isn’t as good as the rest of the world gets, and we’re going to be suffering as a result for decades to come unless we fix things.

By: Janus Daniels

Janus Daniels — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:21:19 +0000

With allowances for limited info, I have to say that this makes sense for the Finns.
I wish that it made sense for US.

By: Drew

Drew — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:01:03 +0000

sorry, but I have to disagree, Oliver. Internet access is becoming more of a necessity like electricity and water. It’s a utility. Making sure that everyone has access to it — which is what the Finns are doing, not just giving it away — is a GOOD THING. And, I believe, expanding internet access to rural areas was something that Obama campaigned on.

By: liberalrob

liberalrob — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:28:55 +0000

We are more and more technologically backward. Once, we were the world leader in technology. It’s sad.

Banking and bill-payment are increasingly done on-line. Without a broadband connection, navigating Flash and JavaScript-heavy e-commerce websites is incredibly tedious. Yet broadband access is still priced like some kind of luxury good; Time/Warner charges me $45/month for cable internet. I can’t get DSL because AT&T says it can’t justify the expense to establish the infrastructure in my area, so it’s cable or nothing.

It took a government mandate to get electrical and telephone service rolled out to “unprofitable” areas. What’s so strange about a government mandate to provide broadband access? Rather than silly, I think it’s very wise.

By: jojo

jojo — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:41:04 +0000

I just got back from that part of the world, and it’s incredible how wired they are. Estonia (right across the sea from Finland) is one of the most wired countries in the world, and it’s something they take pride in as a nation.

If you think it will be a couple decades before broadband is vital, you haven’t been paying attention for the past 20 years.

By: Amused Observer

Amused Observer — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:54:37 +0000

Rheinhard makes a quite valid point about the semantics of what a right is. The difference between a right to bear arms and a right to be provided with something. When does the right of one individual become the obligation of another?

By: Jaim

Jaim — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:44:32 +0000

What Bruce said. From their perspective it really is something that’s critical to their financial future. Maybe it’s a little silly to declare it a right, but it’s also forward-thinking in the sense that they want to be a model nation in terms of technology.

Meanwhile, America languishes in terms of broad-band access compared to other countries. And our health care is a mess.

USA! USA! USA!

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:44:15 +0000

The Finnish economy is significantly more wired than ours is right now, and Rheinhard’s point is quite valid. It could be something as simple as striking down local regs or the equivalent of HOA rules that ban or hinder its installation, i.e. not welfare-width.

By: Oliver Willis

Oliver Willis — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:47:51 +0000

Those things are vital, broadband? In a couple decades.

By: clifton

clifton — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:27:17 +0000

Not exactly sure why you call it stupid. We’ve spent money to ensure roads and telephone access to the highest possible percentage of Americans that want it. Maybe silly or different but stupid seems like a weird word for this.

By: Rheinhard

Rheinhard — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:40:06 +0000

Unfortunately, if one clicks through to the original article, there really isn’t any more information than what you’ve posted.

Which is a shame, because what is meant by “right” here, could mean that I think they have this right.

Under our constitution, I have a “right” to own a gun. That doesn’t mean I’m entitled to one for free.

I have a “right” to read any book I choose. That doesn’t mean I’m entitled to receive said book for free.

Given the nature of the world today and the ever-increasing dependence on technology and the internet for commerce and access to all forms of information, making sure people of all classes have access to the net is rather like guaranteeing public education.

If, as we currently do, have certain areas that commercial providers have decided they can’t make a high enough profit off of, or just contains too many people of the wrong class, well then the residents of those areas just don’t get access to the info superhighway. Thus they are at a permanent disadvantage in terms of “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps”, since they can’t get access to the knowledge that’s needed for it.

I’m in favor of things that reduce the redlining and ghettoization we’ve done in the US for most of our history, whether it’s with respect to access to housing, to education, or to technology.