The Finnish government has decided that a good ‘second life’, a digital one (www.secondlife.com), must be included in the pantheon of citizens’ rights. Helsinki is already a digital city. At lunchtime on any day of the week in the Finnish capital, crowds of young – and not so young – people navigate the Internet readily and easily in the streets and public places. These people, let us call them ‘Internauts’, make use of superfast network connections. Access is free in bars, restaurants and hotels: computers are available free of charge for anyone who does not own a portable computer.
