America’s Future Depends on Universal Broadband
Eric Newton is vice president of the journalism program for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
It’s good that the FCC has put forward the nation’s first real broadband plan. Having a good plan is an essential first step in bringing high-speed Internet access to all Americans — and that is an essential first step in achieving the recommendations of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, which argued that people must have digital access to be first-class citizens.
The commission’s report, done with the Aspen Institute, is titled “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age." (You can access it at http://knightcomm.org/)
It found that in our democratic republic, information is essential to the civic health of communities as good streets or clean water. People need (1) the information itself, (2) access to it and the ability to use it, and (3) ways as communities to engage with the facts we need to improve our collective lives.
The FCC’s plan is a start to the nation taking the issue seriously. Why is it so important? Let’s consider what’s at stake:
In the digital age, countries without high-speed broadband will be left behind, their citizens able to vote but not knowing why they should; able to work but not knowing how to find a job online.
In the past, we grew because we built the railroads and highways we needed to haul people and their physical things across this vast continent. Today, we will not grow unless we build the technology we need to haul our ideas and innovations around the world. Nearly two dozen other nations now rank ahead of the United States in high-speed broadband. That just won't do.
That’s why Knight Foundation’s President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen says: “Broadband access for all is essential to meeting the information needs of communities in a democracy. Without it, we’ll end up with a new category of second-class citizens. With it, everyone will be able to harness the social and economic opportunities of the digital age.”
Digital cities, the connected ones, will be the best environment for local news products, the most interesting laboratories for new ideas, the perfect places to chase the American Dream.
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March 29th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Hello:
Here in rural Mendocino County, CA, it's a case of the haves and the have nots. I live less than two miles from the end of the Comcast cable line and about the same distance from AT&T's DSL service, either of which would be infinitely better than the slow and very expensive satellite link we have. Both companies have stone-walled us about extending service. I am in the process of collecting signatures on a petition that should dispel the claim of both companies that "there aren't enough customers" to make it worth their while to install the lines. What other strategies should we consider to turn around these communications giants.
Thanks,
Jim Culp
Little River, CA
March 30th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully your petition sheds light on this issue in your local community. Did your community apply for Google Fiber for Communities?
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:46 am
Here in the UK the government is rolling out broadband/dsl for everyone although how this is to be paid for is subject to debate. Everyone should have Internet access through their dsl carrier to reach their full potential. High Speed Internet access can only be a good thing and should be paid for by the Internet Service Providers for those who cannot afford it.
May 13th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Both companies have stone-walled us about extending service. I am in the process of collecting signatures on a petition that should dispel the claim of both companies that "there aren't enough customers" to make it worth their while to install the lines. What other strategies should we consider to turn around these communications giants.