4 ms·

Is this like everyone has the right for a bank account? In Germany public libraries have free internet access, I rarely see people there though (and in librari

Is this like everyone has the right for a bank account? In Germany public libraries have free internet access, I rarely see people there though (and in libraries in general, they have the most expensive magazines to read for free!)

ssl-3 3y ago
I don't know if it's codified anywhere (and unlike Germany, we've got 50 states' worth of laws), but public libraries in the US also [almost always] provide free Internet access. ...and somehow, I'm not at all sure what that has to do with a New York City law requiring ISPs to sell Internet access for people's homes at a price of $15 monthly -- regardless of where in the world a public library might be.
- KingOfCoders 3y ago
  If the reasoning is, ISP need to be $15 so everyone has internet, and everyone gets free internet at the library, that argument does not make sense. If the reasoning is, ISP need to be %15, so everyone has convenient internet, that argument makes sense.
  - ssl-3 3y ago
    Why not both? Why not $15 Internet access to use while at home, and free Internet access to use while at the library? What part of this potential eventuality "does not make sense"?
- Novosell 3y ago
  Germany has 16 states, why is 50 special?
  - notresidenter 3y ago
    Are the states in Germany similar to the states in the US? I thought they were merely a relic of pre-WW1 unification, after the 1990 reunification, but that the states were just administrative entities with no independent sovereign power.
    - KingOfCoders 3y ago
      The states in Germany are basically US States 2.0 (in the sense of optimizing from learnings) as Germany is a federalist country like the US. Some taxes and adminstration is local (police, education, ...) and some is federal (other police, military). Each state has a parliament ("Parlament"), a governour ("Ministerpräsident") and secretaries of state ("Minister"). Some states have a constitution (like Bavaria) and a supreme court (similar to states supreme courts in the US). One difference for example, VAT is a federal rate, but both states and the federal system get money from it. One difference that is always striking to me, judges in Germany are not elected, neither are the police, like sheriffs. There is not jail/prison difference. The German "constitution" and setup (e.g. Germany has a Supreme Court, but not set by the president, and a "senate" and a "congress") was heavily inspired by the US system (e.g. compared to the French or British system) - the other driving force was a fear of a re-rise of the nazis. So some things got overfederalized, for example every state has it's own internal intellegence service (which hinders work a lot, but prevents a take-over of internal intellignce). Some states are "pre-WW1", like Bavaria, most are not (only 4-5 out of 27 are). I live in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which was several states and parts of Prussia "pre-WW1". Eastern Germany had no states (for most of the time), so those states came into existence with reunification.
      - notresidenter 3y ago
        Thank you so much for such a detailed response, I'll go read more on the German system.
      - phatfish 3y ago
        Interesting, i didn't know about the "Bundesländer" having their own security services. Maybe that is why Germany has a reputation for poor security services as whole, as it is harder to direct resources. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing and makes sense given the history. The UK started electing the head of the police service for each county, and it just becomes a politicized popularity contest with anaemic voter turnout, rather than having a competent person take the position. At least we don't elect judges, which has an even worse effect of politicizing those tasked with interpreting and enforcing the laws concocted by politicians.
  - KingOfCoders 3y ago
    81 is more than 16!
squigz 3y ago
> I rarely see people there though Unless you work at a library, you're only seeing who's there when you are - not very indicative of how often they're actually used, I would say.
- KingOfCoders 3y ago
  When you sit in the library reading magazines, you see some people, I would say.

ssl-3 3y ago

I don't know if it's codified anywhere (and unlike Germany, we've got 50 states' worth of laws), but public libraries in the US also [almost always] provide free Internet access. ...and somehow, I'm not at all sure what that has to do with a New York City law requiring ISPs to sell Internet access for people's homes at a price of $15 monthly -- regardless of where in the world a public library might be.

KingOfCoders 3y ago
If the reasoning is, ISP need to be $15 so everyone has internet, and everyone gets free internet at the library, that argument does not make sense. If the reasoning is, ISP need to be %15, so everyone has convenient internet, that argument makes sense.
- ssl-3 3y ago
  Why not both? Why not $15 Internet access to use while at home, and free Internet access to use while at the library? What part of this potential eventuality "does not make sense"?
Novosell 3y ago
Germany has 16 states, why is 50 special?
- notresidenter 3y ago
  Are the states in Germany similar to the states in the US? I thought they were merely a relic of pre-WW1 unification, after the 1990 reunification, but that the states were just administrative entities with no independent sovereign power.
  - KingOfCoders 3y ago
    The states in Germany are basically US States 2.0 (in the sense of optimizing from learnings) as Germany is a federalist country like the US. Some taxes and adminstration is local (police, education, ...) and some is federal (other police, military). Each state has a parliament ("Parlament"), a governour ("Ministerpräsident") and secretaries of state ("Minister"). Some states have a constitution (like Bavaria) and a supreme court (similar to states supreme courts in the US). One difference for example, VAT is a federal rate, but both states and the federal system get money from it. One difference that is always striking to me, judges in Germany are not elected, neither are the police, like sheriffs. There is not jail/prison difference. The German "constitution" and setup (e.g. Germany has a Supreme Court, but not set by the president, and a "senate" and a "congress") was heavily inspired by the US system (e.g. compared to the French or British system) - the other driving force was a fear of a re-rise of the nazis. So some things got overfederalized, for example every state has it's own internal intellegence service (which hinders work a lot, but prevents a take-over of internal intellignce). Some states are "pre-WW1", like Bavaria, most are not (only 4-5 out of 27 are). I live in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which was several states and parts of Prussia "pre-WW1". Eastern Germany had no states (for most of the time), so those states came into existence with reunification.
    - notresidenter 3y ago
      Thank you so much for such a detailed response, I'll go read more on the German system.
    - phatfish 3y ago
      Interesting, i didn't know about the "Bundesländer" having their own security services. Maybe that is why Germany has a reputation for poor security services as whole, as it is harder to direct resources. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing and makes sense given the history. The UK started electing the head of the police service for each county, and it just becomes a politicized popularity contest with anaemic voter turnout, rather than having a competent person take the position. At least we don't elect judges, which has an even worse effect of politicizing those tasked with interpreting and enforcing the laws concocted by politicians.
- KingOfCoders 3y ago
  81 is more than 16!

squigz 3y ago

> I rarely see people there though Unless you work at a library, you're only seeing who's there when you are - not very indicative of how often they're actually used, I would say.

KingOfCoders 3y ago
When you sit in the library reading magazines, you see some people, I would say.