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It’s been some time since we covered the highly controversial Digital Economy Act. That’s mostly because it seemed like a done deal, and was the current ConDem’s administration’s first signs that all the promise of change it brought with it were likely to be muted at best.

Even with that attitude, in a sign that Britain’s constitution and legal system is functional, it has come to light that the act will be judicially reviewed, with major ISPs TalkTalk and BT preparing a legal challenge, which could see the entire shambles it is overturned.

Quick recap

The Digital Economy Bill was proposed by the previous government, with the intention of protecting creatives such as musicians who traded in digital content. In short, it was a system put forth to curb piracy and prosecute file-sharers.

The problems with the Digital Economy Bill – which was passed through government to become an act – was that, firstly, it required ISPs monitor their user’s online activities, as well as giving government the right to flag offending websites and block access from them. Yes, in short, censorship.

Even with the global uproar, the bill was rushed through parliament and was ratified during the parliament ‘wash up period’, just prior to elections, which was a period many MPs were not present for, and also meant few of those who were present paid much attention to it. Two hours of debate later, and the Digital Economy Bill was ratified. Preposterous? Yes. Thankfully the judicial system agrees.
BT and TalkTalk get their day in court

Criticising the bill for receiving ‘insufficient scrutiny’, BT and TalkTalk have managed to get their day in court. TalkTalk’s Andrew Heaney, an executive director, told the The Guardian he expected the judicial review to ‘properly assess whether the act is legal and justifiable.’

We’ve been constant critics of the Digital Economy Act and the bill that proceeded it, and hopefully this judicial review will, at the very least, ensure due process is followed in the passing of the act if not strike it off completely.

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Finland becomes the world’s first country where broadband access is a legal right for every citizen. You read right, Finland has made having access to the internet a right.

Starting yesterday, 1 July 2010, every Finn has a right to broadband connectivity of 1Mbps at a minimum. With a reported 96% percent of Finland’s population already compliant with the law, only another 4000 homes need to get broadband access. As if the fact that the entire nation will be on broadband is not a big enough deal, the Finnish government has committed to upping the minimum speed everybody has a right to 100MB per second by 2015. That’s a 100 times increase in Finland internet speeds in five years as a legal right.

Why the move

Finnish communication minister, Suvi Linden, who oversees Finland internet strategies, told the BBC why this was such a big deal, saying: “We considered the role of the internet in Finns everyday life. Internet services are no longer just for entertainment.” She continued, saying “Finland has worked hard to develop an information society and a couple of years ago we realised not everyone had access”. So, taking a very progressive move, the government made it law, now compelling telecommunications companies to provide service to every citizen. How’s that for a progressive government

How does the UK stack up?

By comparison, broadband penetration in the United Kingdom is at a respectable 73%. At governmental level, one major campaigning point of the recent elections was how fast a connection and to how many people each party could deliver British citizens. In comparison, the ConDem government has committed to delivering 2Mbps broadband to every home come 2012. But it does not appear that they will make having the Internet a right, as well.

This is one example of government intervention in telecommunications having a positive impact on ISPs and widespread broadband connectivity. Sure, the challenges locations like the UK, with its dispersed population are more difficult to circumvent than those faced by countries with high population density, like Finland, but solutions do exist. Making the Internet a right, a basic human right like free speech and freedom of religion is as progressive as it gets. And it’s no wonder the Finland Internet services and networks are among the best in the world.

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Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s culture secretary, pledged £300 million would be used  come the current parliament to ensure Britain’s broadband would be second to none, in Europe, by being ‘the best superfast broadband’ on the continent.

The challenge – rural areas

While people often laud places like Norway and Finland for their deep broadband penetration, what they often overlook is the tight population density in those places. People live so close together that deploying a blanket high speed broadband network is relatively inexpensive. British broadband deployment does not have this luxury, with many locales being remote and many areas quite rural.

In this respect, British ISP providers, or private sector funds, are uneasy about financing this expansion. Hunt is not blind to this, indicating a high priority of his government is to deliver broadband to rural areas, so that government does not ‘open up a new digital divide between the urban areas and rural communities’ with these initiatives.,

Electioneering

British broadband policy was central to the recent election that saw the coalition government of David Cameron and Nick Clegg overthrow Gordon Brown. Differing policies like blanket coverage of at least 2mb per second lines were available throughout the UK, as proposed by the ousted Labour government, which Hunt supported but felt was ‘pitifully unambitious’. Other plans from running parties was to up the average speed of broadband significantly, but in concentrated, population dense and wealthier areas only – leaving those in rural locations in the cold, somewhat.

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Oddly enough, Jeremy Hunt is not once committal to what the minimum speed of this ‘superfast broadband’ network would be, which in its self is rather ‘unambitious’. To use buzzwords to diverge away from the key questions – how fast, how stable, and at what price – does British ISP services and British broadband in general a disservice, as well as the British public, too. People now know enough to ask the right questions, but politicians still don’t volunteer the proper answer.

In addition to Joe Public, British ISP service providers and manufacturers of broadband equipment stand to benefit most from these initiatives, meaning considerable lobbying may occur behind the scenes, too.