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Estonia: Where the Internet is a Human Right

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the five-year-plan dept.

securitas writes "The Christian Science Monitor reports on technological change in Estonia, where an enlightened post-Soviet era government believes the Internet is essential for life in the 21st century and backs that up with legislation declaring Internet access is a human right. Estonia is a country where hot, running water was a luxury a decade ago. It's now a place where farmers have broadband Internet, 80% of the people use online banking, Internet usage and broadband penetration rates are comparable to Western Europe, and the government conducts most business (meetings, votes, document reviews, etc.) virtually through a system of networked computers. Not bad for a country that only 10 years ago was a crumbling, bankrupt mess with a network infrastructure to match."

9 of 499 comments (clear)

  1. mmm. Estonia FTP's by YodaToad · · Score: 4, Funny

    I always love downloading my ISO's from Estonia mirrors. I always seem to get my max download speed. Good for them!

  2. Carefull .... by bizitch · · Score: 5, Funny

    You don't know what those wacky Estonians will do with thier "rights" and their "freedoms" ....

    They might start a decentralized peer-to-peer network and start trading files or something!

    --
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  3. Re:A further comment by Surak · · Score: 2, Funny

    How about the human right to friday's off every six months?

    I second that motion!

    Motion carried!

    Everybody has Fridays off every six months.

    Next.

    --
    My journal has hot /. gossip.
  4. Re:Russia by erikharrison · · Score: 2, Funny

    It might have something to do with being larger than a couple of Australia's

  5. They're also good at wife-carrying by aliens · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah it's strange, but hey who are you to judge?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/815978.stm

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    -- taking over the world, we are.
    1. Re:They're also good at wife-carrying by zangdesign · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hey, what's the ping time using an average Estonian wife as the packet carrier?

      I can see it now - an RFC on WifeNet or WiFi!

      We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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      To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
    2. Re:They're also good at wife-carrying by sstory · · Score: 2, Funny
      The festival originated in the 19th century when it was common practice in Finland to steal women from neighbouring villages.

      I didn't realize they had mormons in 19th century Finland.

  6. The right to Life, Liberty, ... by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... and an Inexhaustible Source of Porn.

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    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  7. ha HA ha Ha by xenocytekron · · Score: 2, Funny

    right

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