In her latest address to the nation’s Parliament, Queen Elizabeth II called for the enactment of a new law essentially guaranteeing Britons the right to a minimum download speed on their Internet service.
A new “Universal Service Obligation will mean anyone can request a 10Mbps internet connection, and will be in line for compensation if the service is sub-par,” The Daily Mail reported.
In comparison, Statista.com notes that the “global average connection speed was 5.6 Mbps.” The European country with the highest average Internet connection at the end of 2015, was Sweden, at 19.1 Mbps.
Previous reports suggested the 90-year-old British monarch would mention a legislative push to prevent children from accessing adult websites.
“The forthcoming Digital Economy Bill will propose that all sites containing pornographic material must check that users are over 18,” the BBC reports. The Mirror newspaper notes that the age-check may be based on providing a credit card number.
The transcript of the speech lacked any explicit reference to such a proposal, but the queen did call for “new legislation [to] be introduced to tackle some of the deepest social problems in society.”
Little more than a figurehead, the British monarch’s speeches are written for her by the prime minister’s office, reflecting his legislative priorities.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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