German court rules: internet essential to modern life

A German court has ruled that its citizens have the right to ask for compensation from their internet service provider should their broadband be disrupted for any length of time, judging internet access to be an essential part of modern life.

This decision was made by the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, as part of a case where a citizen of the region had not had any access to his internet, telephone or fax facilities for over two months. According to The Inquirer, he had already been compensated for the money he was forced to spend by using a mobile phone, however he wanted further compensation for simply not having internet access – that has now been granted.

A court spokeswoman told said, “The internet plays a very important role today and affects the private life of an individual in very decisive ways. Therefore loss of use of the internet is comparable to the loss of use of a car.”

While this might seem like a good thing for consumers, it could mean that ISPs are forced to raise prices in order to cover the redundancy of potentially having to pay out everytime someone has downtime for more than a day or two.

KitGuru Says: What do you guys think in this situation? It seems like after two months the guy should be compensated somehow, but if it's just a day or two?

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