Human rights span from civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression and equality before the law being the most common heard ones, but also economic, social and cultural rights - the right to work, the right to food and education - and collective rights: rights to development and self-determination.
I am not going to get into any deep discussion about that, but just think for a moment a country has granted its residents a legal right to access the internet through a broadband connection. This is in the same era with China having a 30,000 Internet Police.
The Finnish government has just introduced laws guaranteeing broadband access to every person living in Finland - 5.5 million people. This is a unique event of its kind: in China, critical comments appearing on Internet forums, blogs and major portals such as Sohu and Sina are usually erased within minutes.
Starting July 2010, every person in Finland will have the right to a one-megabit broadband connection, says the Ministry of Transport and Communications. By the end of 2015, 100 Mb broadband connection will be a legal right in Finland.
China has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world, according to Amnesty International. Filters block websites that feature words such as "human rights" or "democracy". People in China can't access www.amnesty.org, for example.
So .... Hooray to Finland and maybe more countries will pick up on the idea.
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