ABSTRACT
There is a need for ‘connecting people’ in Finland. It has a population of 5 million people living in an area that is only slightly smaller than Germany. Therefore, Finland has wanted to become a laboratory for the extensive use of modern communications technology. The programme of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen’s Cabinet expressed this official aspiration as follows: ‘The information society policy programme aims to utilize the prospects offered by the information society and to maintain Finland’s status as a leading producer and user of information and communications technology’ (Council of Ministers 2003).
