A German federal court this week ruled that consumers have the right to monetary compensation whenever their internet service is interrupted. In what German media outlets are calling a « landmark » ruling, a judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe determined that the internet is an « essential » part of life, echoing similar decisions from courts in France and Finland. […]
Germany isn’t the first country to declare the internet as a fundamental part of civilian life. In 2009, France’s Constitutional Council ruled that internet access is a basic human right, undermining the country’s controversial HADOPI anti-piracy law. Finland’s Ministry of Transport and Communications adopted a similar stance later that year, when it announced plans to provide every citizen with a 100Mb broadband connection by the year 2015 — something the country described as a legal right.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/25/3914498/german-judge-says-internet-is-essential-to-life